gracious art of dispensing true hospitality, it is not often that fortune is kind enough to bring within our gates such a distinguished gathering as this, and I assure you that our appreciation of your visit and its purpose is as universal as it is sincere. Your Association is composed of men who have devoted their time and abilities to the study of the law, and the greater number of them, I assume, have been engaged at some period of their lives in the active practice of that important and dignified profession. Few callings are higher, or if pursued in the right spirit, more ennobling, for through law we expect and await justice, and with justice come social order, well-being, and general content. Speaking then as one of the laity and yet as one not altogether unfamiliar with the history, scope, and aims of your Association, I take it for granted that you will not only labor here for certain technical reforms in your profession, but will use your great influence to encourage the sentiment that the framing of laws and their interpretation should be but honest and practical attempts to preserve and defend the inherent rights and equities of the individual, of society and the state. The interest aroused by the proceedings of this conference will not be confined to Maine, but of all those who follow its deliberations and discussions, none will do so with greater attention or with keener sympathy than the people of this state. In their behalf I again welcome you and express the hope that the results accomplished here may be conducive to public welfare and satisfactory to yourselves. The President: I have now the extreme pleasure of introducing to you a gentleman who stands at the head of the Maine Judiciary, and in which position he has rendered distinguished services for many years-Chief Justice Emery. Lucilius A. Emery, Chief Justice of Maine: Mr. President, gentlemen of the American Bar Association, ladies and gentlemen: By the constitution of this State of Maine the three departments of government are distinctly sepa rated, and it is commanded that no person exercising any of the powers belonging to one department shall exercise any of the powers belonging to either of the other departments. Hence the Chief Executive having worthily welcomed you in behalf of the whole people, I am put forward to extend to you the special welcome of the Bar and the Bench of the state. Our welcome is especially earnest since we are sure your coming brings us good as well as pleasure. But we do not wonder that you come even so far as Maine. Calling to mind our fields and our forests, our mountains and our meadows, our lakes and our rivers, our beaches and our bluffs, our islands and our inlets, our bays and our headlands, our bracing air and our pure water, we wonder that you delayed your coming so long. We even wonder that you consent to live so far away as many of you do. You will be welcome, though, whenever, and as often as you will come. Our welcome, cordial and hearty as it is, will not give you any headaches. Under the administration of our excellent Governor and that of the high sheriff of this good county of Cumberland our hospitality may in some respects seem "extra dry." If, however, it be true, as Shakespeare says, that "small cheer and great welcome make a merry feast," you will have the time of your lives. But you have not come here for festivities. You have come for conference upon matters of the greatest interest to ourselves and our fellow-men. Other associations and conferences are often held for mutual benefit and public good. The physicians meet often for the better care of our bodies in life, and even the undertakers for the better care of our bodies after death. Across the Atlantic at The Hague is even now being held that great conference designed to hasten the millennium of peace. Of greater importance than any or even all these purposes is the cause of justice. There is nothing in this world better than justice. There is nothing in this world worse than injustice. He who shall remove some cause of injustice, or who shall make more straight and easy the road to just judgments, will confer more good upon mankind than even he who shall make two blades of grass to grow where but one grew before. And now in the words of the fair and wise Portia, "Sir, you are very welcome to our house: It must appear in other ways than words, Again assuring you of our grateful welcome, we, the lawyers and judges of Maine, will sit with you, even at your feet, willing learners in this school of jurisprudence. The President: Your Excellency, in behalf of the members of the American Bar Association, gathered as they are here today from every state in the union, I desire to express our most sincere thanks for your cordial greeting. You have chosen to extend your welcome in most graceful phrase, in a manner that has sunk deep into our hearts, and we shall remember it; we shall remember it when we go away and we shall cherish it all the more because you have chosen to speak it as the representative of the political powers of the great State of Maine, which has sent into the service of this country a Hamlin, a Fessenden, a Blaine, a Reed, not to speak of the living statesmen who are in the same class. Sir, we thank you. And to you, Mr. Chief Justice, a most worthy successor of that long line of chief justices, from Chief Justice Mellen down, you, who have given so many years of your life to the proper administration and the wise development of the law, we thank you, sir, for your cordial greeting, and in return to the State of Maine for the courtesies which we are receiving we beg leave to express the hope for it that it may have the benefit of your broad learning, your large experience and your keen love of justice for many years to come. The President then delivered the President's Address. (See the Appendix.) The President: The nomination and election of members is in order. New members were then elected. (See List of New Members.) The President: As members of the General Council are now to be elected, the Chair will declare a recess of five minutes for the purpose of affording an opportunity to members to agree upon the names of the gentlemen to be nominated for these important positions. After a recess members of the General Council were elected. (See List of Officers at end of Minutes.) The President: The members of the newly elected General Council are requested to meet in this hall immediately after the adjournment of this meeting. The Association will now give its attention to the reading of the report of the Secretary. John Hinkley, of Maryland, the Secretary of the Association, read his report. The President: If there is no objection, the report will stand approved as read. (See the Report at end of Minutes.) The President: The report of the Treasurer is next in order. Frederick E. Wadhams, of New York, the Treasurer of the Association, read his report. The President: The Chair will appoint an Auditing Committee later. The report of the Treasurer will be received at this time, and when the Auditing Committee is named it will then be referred to it. (See the Report at end of Minutes.) The President: The report of the Executive Committee will now be received. The report was read by the Secretary. (See the Report at end of Minutes.) Amasa M. Eaton, of Rhode Island: I move that the report be received and approved. The motion was seconded and adopted. George Whitelock, of Maryland: I do not know whether this is the proper time for it or not, but if it is in order I would like to submit a resolution which Mr. John R. Dos Passos, of New York, who is now in Europe, requested me to offer simply for the purpose of having it received and referred to an appropriate committee. The President: If there is no objection it may be read; the Chair hearing none the gentleman from Maryland may proceed to read the resolution. George Whitelock: Prefacing the reading of this resolution, I do not desire to be understood as advocating the principle enunciated in it, but simply as submitting the resolution in pursuance of my promise to Mr. Dos Passos to introduce it. The resolution reads as follows: Resolved, That the President appoint a committee of five to take into consideration and report at the next annual meeting of the Association upon the advisability of establishing a home, institution, or retreat for lawyers who from any cause-poverty, physical injury, the impairment of their faculties, or otherwise, or by reason of old age, have been thrown upon their friends or the community for the necessaries of life; and to report to said. meeting as to the steps to be taken to carry into effect such a project, together with the general rules to govern such an institution. The President: Is the motion of the gentleman from Maryland to receive this resolution and refer it to an appropriate committee, seconded? Martin Dewey Follett, of Ohio: I second the motion of the gentleman. The question was put upon the motion and the result being in doubt a division was called for. The President: Gentlemen, a division having been called for, all in favor of the resolution will rise and remain standing until counted. Of course it should be understood that the adoption of this motion does not pass upon the merits of the question contained in the |
